June 12, 2012

Kim Fuller:
"BEAVER CREEK — It's hard to catch your breath when you're climbing a mountain, jumping into icy water, lugging logs, crawling under electric wires and swinging from dangling rings. Tough Mudder promises a challenge, but what the event delivers is an experience that can only be felt in the grips of its course.

Mark Lepczyk and his friend Chris Vail came out from New Mexico for this year's event at Beaver Creek. Lepczyk said it was harder than he anticipated.

“It was my first Tough Mudder and it was definitely a humbling experience, especially that first mile,” Lepczyk said. “You just go straight up the mountain, and you get winded really, really quickly. It doesn't go away, either, because you're going up the mountain for the next six miles or so.”

As humbling as this event truly is, it's even more uplifting. Spectators lined a large portion of the course on Saturday, offering encouraging shout-outs and generous hand-slaps.

Participants also helped each other tremendously on every obstacle, as well as on uphill battles and downhill trudges. It's the cooperative energy that seems to set Tough Mudder apart from most endurance and adventure events like it.

“You come out here and everybody's participating and everybody's helping you. Everybody just wants you to succeed,” said Bobby L'Heureux, a Vail resident who completed this year's endurance event. “You see people at obstacles waiting and helping other people up for 10 minutes. People aren't worried about time, they're worried about helping the other player in the game.”...."
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